


Worth the Lick

by transfixeddream



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-17
Updated: 2011-05-17
Packaged: 2017-10-19 12:18:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/200775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transfixeddream/pseuds/transfixeddream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared's infatuated by the cute guy who runs the new ice cream parlor. The only problem is that Jared's lactose intolerant, and he fails when it comes to letting Jensen know.</p><p>Also posted <a href="http://transfixeddream.livejournal.com/96871.html">here</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worth the Lick

**Author's Note:**

> Written for shinyslasher for her generous donation to thepurpledove, and also because Jensen Ackles in pink and ice cream go together wonderfully.

"You know, this is evil, even for you."

Katie rolls her eyes as they round the corner. There's a large ice cream cone-shaped sign hanging above a brick building, and yeah-- _so_ cruel. "Come on, it's like the first rule in the best friend handbook. Whenever your best friend breaks up with her boyfriend, you get her ice cream. And Ben and Jerry's has nothing on this place."

Jared shakes his head. "Okay, no. One, Josh wasn't your boyfriend. You _violently_ insisted he was not your boyfriend." Jared rubs at the phantom bruise Katie put on his arm three weeks ago after he not-so-jokingly stated she'd be moving in with him in no time. "And two, you guys are gonna be back together before the girl finishes putting your ice cream onto a cone."

"I always said you missed out when you decided to be a teacher instead of therapist," Katie says with a meaningful look, one that says, 'shut up or you're getting another bruised arm,' so Jared does. "You planning on getting a sundae?" she adds, for the simple reason of being mean.

"Yeah, just rub that one in," Jared says with a sigh, and then shoots her a glare when she merely smiles back innocently before pushing open the door to the parlor.

The first thing Jared sees when he enters the place is pink. The place is covered in it--the walls, the floors and the counter are all done in various shades of bubble gum and cotton candy. There's a large sign hanging on the back wall that boasts, '50 Delicious and Homemade Flavors!' with all fifty flavors listed under it in rows of ten. There aren't many customers inside, and Jared's thankful that Katie at least waited until after seven to come here. He really doesn't like the fact that from what he can see from the customer's cones, the sign appears accurate.

It's not like he _can't_ eat ice cream, at least not exactly. He can, it's just that the stomach ache following it makes him wait to enjoy it on special occasions. Katie breaking up with her on again, off again boyfriend of two years is not really special enough; besides, he already had some four months ago for this very occasion.

He scans through the different flavors while Katie orders what she wants. There's everything from Strawberry Cheesecake to Triple Chocolate Fudge, and Jared can feel his stomach's growing approval at the entire list. It's not until Katie nudges him that he snaps out of imagining what half of the flavors taste like, and he begrudgingly reaches into his back pocket for his wallet.

"And what can I get you?"

Jared glances up and his hand promptly freezes on the five in his wallet. Because holy _shit_.

The guy is hot, is all that registers at first. He's wearing a bubble gum pink polo that fits perfectly, stretching across his shoulders and it looks really good on him; Jared didn't know that guys could actually look good in pink. His hair is gelled into short spikes and the ends are frosted the same pink as his shirt. There're freckles across the bridge of his nose and his lips are pulled into a kind of awkward smile that is possibly the best thing Jared's ever seen.

"Uh, what?" Jared manages after a second.

The guy gestures to the cone he's passing Katie. "Did you want something?"

"Oh, no, he's lac--"

"Yeah, I'll have a small... whatever," Jared says, quickly talking over Katie. He tries to flash a smile that's somewhere between flirty and cool, but mostly hopes he doesn't look like a tool. "Um, surprise me, I mean. There hasn't been a flavor of ice cream I haven't liked."

"Hasn't been a flavor that's liked you back, though," Katie says, thankfully quiet enough so that only he can make it out.

Jared nudges her out of the way and watches as the guy gets his ice cream. There's a woman with a little girl who can't be older than five waiting beside him, but he only feels a little bad at checking out the guy's ass in front of them.

He must get caught up in staring because the next thing he realizes is that the guy is turning back around. Jared's eyes jump to the sign hanging on the wall. It's not very smooth, but he figures it's better than being blatantly obvious about what he was doing seconds ago. The guy either didn't notice or doesn't care, because he's just holding out a cone to Jared and smiling.

"Okay, so try this," he says. "It's Toffee Mocha Crunch--mocha ice cream with chunks of toffee mixed in it."

Jared grabs it and takes a lick, trying not to groan when the flavor bursts on his tongue. The ice cream is cool and smooth, and he sucks on a sweet piece of toffee. "Mm, holy shi--" he catches himself barely in time, but it doesn't stop the mother from glaring at him. "I mean, it's, uh. Wow. Really good."

The guy grins at that and nods. "Yeah? See, it's all about temperature. Most times, your ice cream is too cold so you can't really get the whole taste of it."

Jared smiles back. "Oh. Right, that makes sense." He reaches into his wallet and passes him over a ten. The guy makes quick change and hands it over. "Thanks."

The guy is still grinning, but it's more compressed now; more personal. Jared's aware of how pathetic he is for nearly glowing because a cute guy is smiling at him, thank you. "Yeah, no problem. Glad you enjoy the ice cream."

Nodding his head, Jared takes another taste. "It seriously is awesome," he says. There's a cough to his left and Jared looks over to where the woman is tapping her foot, looking like she just finished sucking on a lemon. "Oh, um. Right, I should probably just--"

The guy chuckles and nods. "Yeah, quit holding up my line."

"Right," Jared says again. "Uh, thanks again for the ice cream. Maybe I'll see you again sometime, uh...?"

"Jensen."

"Jensen," Jared repeats, trying it out. "Cool. I'm Jared."

"Nice to meet you, Jared," Jensen says. He looks kind of amused, but less like 'you're... _adorable_ ' and more like 'you're adorable,' so Jared counts it as a win.

"You, too." He flashes Jensen a quick smile and gets away from the counter before the mother glares at him again. Katie's looking a mixture of amused--more like the 'you're... _adorable_ ' version--and bewildered, which, whatever.

They're outside and half a block away from the ice cream parlor before Katie says anything. "So," she says, pausing to lick at her ice cream. "How's your stomach?"

Jared presses his hand to it and shrugs. He probably should have trashed the ice cream as soon as they got within a reasonable distance from the place, but he wasn't lying when he told Jensen that it's good. "Fine," he says, swallowing. "For now."

*

"You could just tell him it wasn't his ice cream you came to lick," Chad suggests. Chad has even less game than Jared, but that doesn't change the fact that he still gets laid way more often than Jared does, which is depressing, unfair, and just plain wrong.

"Yes, because that works in real life," Katie interjects. "Porn is not the same as reality."

Chad shrugs and bites into his sandwich. "It is to me."

Katie rolls her eyes at him, and then looks at Jared. "It's easy: tell him you're lactose intolerant and ask him to dinner or something. I'm not going to listen to you whining about a stomach ache again."

"I didn't whine!" Jared insists. Katie raises an eyebrow. "Okay, I didn't whine _much_. Shut up."

"At least only go on the weekends, then. You're gassy enough without milk in your system."

Jared groans and cups his face in his hands. "Ugh, you guys suck."

"Oh!" Chad says, hand slapping the table. "You can ask if he'd mind if you licked ice cream off of him."

Jared's not even sure if he wants to ask, but he does anyway. "How is that supposed to help?"

"Oh, you're still on that milk thing," Chad says, shrugging. "Then, I don't know, buy soy ice cream or some shit."

"Thanks," Jared says, and then completely vetoes any future ideas Chad will ever come up with.

*

All in all, he manages to wait two days, and spends most of them debating on whether it's too soon to go back or not. On one hand, Jensen could think he's desperate--which he's totally not--or he could think that he just really likes ice cream. And, well, he _does_ , but he's not exactly cool with dealing with stomach aches every time he sees Jensen.

Of course, when he steps inside and the first thing he sees is Jensen smiling, Jared decides that maybe he could be cool with a rumbly tummy. And wow, he actually said that.

There's a lineup of a dozen people so Jared has a while to go over what he should say; it had taken him basically the entire time since he left here until he came back just to decide if he even _should_ come back. He didn't really have much time to think of how not to make himself look lame in front of Jensen. It should be easy enough to explain, but Jared's pretty sure he'd look stupid if he came back just to tell the cute ice cream boy that he can't eat any more. And he might look a little psychotic if Jensen doesn't even remember him and wonders why this crazy person is telling him all about his milk allergies.

He's kind of swaying by the time there's only one customer between them, and he's really no better off than he was when he came in ten minutes ago. It's ridiculous, he decides. Completely ridiculous that he's worried about what a hot guy who serves killer ice cream thinks of him. So when the last girl pays Jensen and leaves, Jared steels himself, lets a smile spread out on his face, and approaches.

"Jared, hey!" Jensen says, and Jared feels himself smile a little wider at that. He remembers him, so that's great.

"Uh, hey. Listen, I've gotta--" Jared starts, and then stops, mouth kind of hanging open, when Jensen raises a hand.

"Just one second."

Jared nods and shoves his hands in his pocket. "Okay, yeah. Sure thing."

He watches Jensen move at a dizzying sort of pace, one hand grabbing a cone while the other scoops out ice cream, and then Jensen's coming back with a smile on his face and Jared finds himself reflecting it back tenfold. It's not until Jensen shoves a cone of ice cream right in front of his face that Jared realizes he was staring.

"You said you never met an ice cream you didn't like, so," Jensen says quickly. "But I mean, if you _don't_ like it, then, uh, you don't have to pay for it." He waves a hand. "It's Avocado."

"Uh," says Jared, stupidly. The ice cream is a dull green, scooped high into a waffle cone, and he takes it from Jensen without much more thought.

"I know it's not really the first thing you think of when you think of ice cream, but, try it," Jensen continues. He gets this little smirk on his face which looks seriously amazing. "It's good, I promise."

Jared nods and takes an experimental lick, and it _is_ good, which is just his luck; this place can apparently make anything taste good in ice cream, and Jared kind of wants to try them all, providing Jensen's the one serving him. "It's good," he confirms.

Jensen grins again, the same one he flashed Jared the last time he complimented the ice cream, and Jared thinks that maybe the way he'll be feeling in a half hour will be worth it.

*

"It's like, I don't even know," Jared says with a huff. He should be finishing grading his papers considering his planning period's almost over, but instead he's splitting his chicken salad sandwich with Misha and lamenting about Jensen. "I mean, his ice cream is good but, my stomach, man. Am I totally shallow?"

Misha shrugs. "I was thinking you were more masochistic than anything. Maybe you're both."

"Awesome," Jared says, resisting the urge to bang his head against a wall; for a guidance counselor, Misha kind of sucks at the whole counseling part.

"Hey, no, it's not like you're the first sailor to be lured in by a siren's song," Misha says, completely serious.

"So you're saying that Jensen is a siren? _Seriously_?"

"Yes, only he's not luring you in with his voice, but with his ice cream," Misha says with a nod, and then purses his lips. "Or his penis. Anyway, instead of a brutal death at sea against the ragged rocks, you just get a stomach ache."

"Oh," Jared says. "That's... well, that's probably the most painful analogy I've ever heard."

"Hey, I'm a high school guidance counselor," Misha says, raising a hand. "Kids don't usually come to me for thoughtful advice. They come to cut class or to find out where to score some sweet weed."

Jared shrugs and figures that sounds about right.

*

It's not really an ideal situation, getting to talk with Jensen for a couple of minutes a day and then dealing with stomach pains afterwards, but it kind of works. In two weeks, Jared finds out that Jensen's from Texas and goes home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, prefers Chinese to Mexican, and is the mind behind most of the fifty flavors the parlor serves. Consequentially, he also happens to be funny, insightful and--most importantly--definitely gay, and definitely single. When Jared says, 'ditto,' Jensen nods and grins a little, and it feels like a small victory.

*

When Jared enters through the doors there's nobody around apart from two teenagers sharing a sundae at one of the three small tables, which is kind of odd. It's a Friday night, which Jared figures has got to be a good night for ice cream, but apparently it's not. Still, Jensen's standing hunched over the counter, flipping through a magazine, and there's little chance that a mob of people are going to show up, so Jared's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Sure is busy tonight."

Jensen glances up and smirks. "You just missed rush hour. Hold on."

It's pretty much a tradition at this point for Jensen to get him whatever kind of ice cream he wants. Jared's tasted at least ten by now and considering they've all been awesome--and they all have the same effect on him later--he doesn't really care which flavor Jensen picks.

He's kind of thrown a little when Jensen passes over a cone. "Chocolate?" Considering the fact that he's had Tiramisu, Green Tea, Root Beer and Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate is somewhat of an odd choice at this point.

Jensen shakes his head. "Nope."

Jared takes a lick and frowns. It's smooth and creamy, but there's no denying his tastebuds. "Dude, I know chocolate, and this definitely _is_ Chocolate."

Jensen shakes his head again and grins. "Nope," he repeats, and then points behind him.

Jared looks up at the hanging sign; there's a one where the zero in '50 Delicious and Homemade Flavors!' was, and underneath the rows of flavors is a new one.

"Vegan Chocolate?" he asks after a moment.

Jensen smiles a little and scratches the back of his neck. "Um, yeah. Your friend--uh, Katie?--came in here after you left a week or so ago."

Jared's pretty sure he looks like a deer caught in the headlights, but he can't actually help it. He lets out a breath and says, "Katie, yeah. And she..."

"Told me that you're lactose intolerant?" Jensen says. "Yeah, she did. You should've told me."

It's kind of hard not to turn red at that, and Jared feels his face heating up. "Well, I mean, it's not. I didn't. What I mean is. Uh."

Jensen smirks. "She told me about _that_ , too. I, uh, I would've just stopped serving you, but it kinda took a little while to perfect the soy ice cream, and I wanted you to be surprised. So."

Jared swallows, not quite wanting to process the first part of Jensen's explanation. "Oh," he says, a little dully. "So you... made ice cream for me?"

Jensen shrugs a little. "Well not _just_ for you, because I really should have had some other options, but..." he sighs and smiles, this pure and bright kind of smile that knocks Jared back. "Yeah, okay. I pretty much made it for you."

"Oh. That's, um. Wow, thank you." Jared takes another couple licks and savors it; he's pretty sure that it tastes even better now, knowing it's not going to be causing anything unfortunate later on.

Nodding, Jensen leans over the counter. "Don't mention it. Uh, listen. Your friend told me I should stop giving you stomach aches and ask you out, so, um--"

Jared groans. "Jesus Christ, she did not say that."

Jensen laughs. "Oh, but she _did_ ," he says, but he's still smiling, so Jared figures he's not mentally scarred from the experience or anything; Jared's pretty sure _he's_ going to be, though. "So, I'm closing in about an hour--do you wanna get coffee?" He smirks slightly. "Sugar, no cream?"

Jared chokes out a half-laugh that bubbles into a full one, because really? "Um, sure, okay." He nods and clears his throat. "Definitely, yeah."


End file.
